Athletic equipment bags, or sports bags as they are often commonly referred, are becoming increasingly popular in numerous sports because of their functionality and attractiveness to athletes. They are typically quite large, however, in order to allow a sports participant to carry all the equipment he or she needs for games and practice sessions. In this respect, a hockey player, for example, may require his or her sports bag to carry at least one stick, a pair of skates, a helmet, gloves, shoulder and shin pads, elbow pads, pants, a jersey, neck guard, socks, athletic support, etc. Goalies need even more equipment, requiring large goalie pads as well.
Heretofore, conventional sports bags generally include two types. The first type is made from soft material (nylon, canvas, cloth, or leather, for example), is not capable of maintaining a given shape and volume per se, and cannot protect the storage items against impact. FIG. 1 provides two “duffle bag” examples of such a sports bag. Not only does such a soft bag provide an awkward means of transporting equipment, but it is typically very difficult to find a particular piece of equipment within such a large carry bag as they typically are not compartmentalized. In fact, it is often necessary to rummage through all of the equipment (and necessitates the removal of much of the equipment from the bag) while a search is made for the desired article.
The second type of sports bag has a rigid structure, often having an outer, substantially rigid cover structure to provide greater support to prevent items within the bag from being damaged by compression. While these types of rigid sports bags effectively protect the storage items against impact, they are typically heavy, not convenient to carry, and can be quite bulky and difficult to transport. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,612 entitled “Sports Equipment Carrier”, issued Aug. 25, 1998 to Aldo Buccioni, disclosed a novel carrier for hockey equipment. This hockey equipment carrier comprised an upright container (generally rectangular in shape), having a body with internal receptacles for receiving equipment, door means for access to the internal space, a lower end with wheels to assist in transport, and means for releasably securing hockey sticks to the container. Unfortunately, however, because of the large size of the carrier given the various equipment that the participant needs, in combination with the rigid structure of the carrier which enables the bag to hold its shape and volume, this prevents such a bag from fitting comfortably into the trunks of motor vehicles, lockers, storage facilities, and the like, and is bulky for shipping and handling, thereby increasing costs associated therewith. Furthermore, such rigid structure sports bags are inflexible and cannot adequately bend and flex to absorb shock, or to collapse for storage or transport. A need therefore exists for a sports bag that has a semi-rigid structure to provide necessary support and to protect its contents from damage, and allow for compartmentalization within the sports bag, but that is also flexible and collapsible for ease of storage, transport, shipping, and handling.